


Possess

by bonzai_bunny



Series: Tumblr Ficlets [14]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Demonic Possession, Ficlet, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Medical Trauma, Not Canon Compliant, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Possibly Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 13:53:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16855207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonzai_bunny/pseuds/bonzai_bunny
Summary: Steve gets possessed by a demon and nobody really knows what to do.





	1. Natasha

**Author's Note:**

> So uh, heavy trigger warning for homophobic slurs, reference to rape and abuse, medical sterilization, and miscarriage. 
> 
> This was heavily inspired by the first season of Penny Dreadful. I wrote this on tumblr in four parts but there is no real satisfying ending, I apologize. This starts with the first time the demon appeared through Steve.

They had him held against the wall with those magnetic handcuffs in hulk’s danger room and nobody knew whether or not to approach him. Steve’s hair had sweated out over his sunken eyes, and his skin had gone sallow. Sometimes he would know where he was, he would be confused as to why he was locked up, why was everyone afraid to look at him, but for the most part he was gone. 

It was Natasha’s turn to give him food and water (whether or not he would be aware and take it would be anyone’s guess). She didn’t want to admit how much this frightened her. She didn’t know what was happening to Steve and she wanted it to stop. 

The rest of the group watched as she knelt down beside him and brought the straw of his water to his lips. He watched her and drank (thank god) and when he was done, he whispered,

“Thank you.”

“How are you feeling?” She asked, taking out the damp cloth on her tray and wiping the sweat off of his face.

“Tired. Weak. I guess it’s too late to ask for a bed, huh?” He said with a half-smile. 

“Yeah,” she said, trying to smile back. It wavered and she quickly looked back down at the tray of food. She fed him in silence and pushed his hair out of his eyes when he was done.

“Thank you,” he said again and she nodded.

“I know this hasn’t been easy for you, all of you, but I want you to know that _I’ve always blamed you Natalia_.”

Natasha startled at the sudden change of tone and wondered what he was talking about–

“After leaving me to the Balkans just so you could escape,” He spat, “For what? For America? For our baby?”

Natasha dropped the tray and backed away in horror, because there was no way that Steve could have known anything about that.

“Oh, but you forgot they fixed you when you were young. You were so surprised to see all of that blood pouring out of your cunt. Did it hurt Natalia? Did it hurt to know that you couldn’t even be a mother?”

Steve began to yank on the cuffs as his whole posture changed, became more feral. 

“You cried so much that day, Natalia,” he sneered. “You cried for me, but I was already dead and it was all your fucking fault.”

Natasha was so shocked, she jumped when a hand touched her elbow and turned around and saw Bruce. There was a line of green around his pupils but he seemed otherwise in control as he led her out of the cage and into the room with the rest of the avengers. They all looked surprised but avoided eye contact with her. She ignored them back and tried to forget about the lump in her throat.


	2. Bruce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce confronts Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for mentions of past abuse/reference to rape.

It was only when Steve began to levitate, screaming, while still attached to the walls did the team realize they were way over their heads. The danger room was sealed until it was time to attempt to feed him or clean him and Bruce and Tony put their heads together to figure out whether or not they needed to call an alien, a priest, or someone with magic abilities. 

The first task involved directly asking Steve (or whatever was inside of Steve) because they only had horror movies and pop culture to go off of. 

Bruce volunteered because he, admittedly, had the most control over his emotions and could be trusted not to take it out on anyone else, because he had practice with that, if Steve began to talk to him like he talked to Natasha. 

(Natasha also volunteered, but no one else wanted her secrets spilled out so nastily again and refused. And absolutely  _no one_ thought it would be a good idea for Bucky to go in–Thor threatened to put mjolnir on him if he so much as tried.)

Bruce ironically didn’t have many secrets. It was hard to get much worse than turning into a giant rage monster and killing people, he supposed. And the rest–his history of abuse mainly–were on his file. He had no doubt that Steve–or whatever was controlling Steve–would go for that.

Steve’s eyes were on him when he entered the room. He grinned when the door sealed shut. 

“Oooh,” He crooned, writhing against the floor. “Have they finally had enough? They gonna let you pummel me?”

“No,” Bruce said with something short of a smile. “I’m just here to ask you some questions. In the name of scientific pursuit and all.”

“That sounds nice.”

Bruce wished he had a stool or something so he could focus on something instead of just standing there.

“Right. Do you know my name?”

Steve grinned. “You’re Bruce Banner. You’ve killed a lot of people.”

Bruce ignored that. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Steve.”

Bruce shook his head. “I don’t think that’s true. You might be in Steve’s body but you aren’t Steve.”

Steve tilted his head to the side. “Who’s asking?”

“I am and I would like a direct answer please.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t know my name if I told it to you. But enough about me, let’s talk about you–”

“–So you are someone or something inside of Steve?”

“Let’s talk about Caitlyn.”

Bruce paused because of all the topics he expected the other to try and dig at, this was not one of them. He hadn’t thought about that in years.

“Little Brucey has a crush. What a sweet girl. She didn’t even make fun of you when you stammered.”

“What’s your point?”

Steve ignored him. “But you couldn’t explain your bruises to her. You couldn’t take her to your home. She was so, so worried Brucey. You were ten and in love and you couldn’t at all explain that your mommy got the shit beat out of her and you had to hear her screams as daddy fucked her on the carpet. But then one day she asked–”

And here Steve’s voice went higher to imitate, “Why don’t you go by Robert? How come everyone calls you Bruce?

"And you couldn’t say because your dad named you Robert. Because your dad beat your mother and was a monster. Because your mom liked Bruce the best and that’s all you could give her because despite the fact that you were so so sorry you couldn’t do a goddamn thing to save her.”

Bruce clenched his fists and looked at the ground.

“But sweet little Caitlyn wouldn’t take no for an answer. ‘Why won’t you just tell me Bruce.’ 'I swear I won’t make fun of you Bruce.’ 'It’s probably not even that big of a deal Bruce.’ 'Come on, just tell me.’ 'Why won’t you tell me?’ 'Don’t you trust me?’ 'I’m not going to be your friend anymore if you don’t tell me.’”

Steve smiled up at where Bruce was blinking back tears, “And what did you do?”

“I hit her,” he said softly.

“You hit her like the fucking monster you are. You didn’t need the hulk to show you that.”


	3. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A breather before shit hits the fan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a seizure, I guess.

Bruce left the chamber feeling emotionally drained, but with more answers than they had previously. Whatever was controlling Steve certainly did not pull punches but the fact that Bruce was still in his body was a victory in his mind.

Bruce was pretty certain that whatever was wrong with Steve, it wasn’t anything medical or alien. They were going to have to call someone in, someone who was familiar with the supernatural and magic for help. And quite possibly a priest. 

The rest of the team said he should take a break after his ordeal and he agreed. He spent the rest of the evening doing yoga and sleeping. He wasn’t expecting to be awoken in the middle of the night by JARVIS saying,

“Sir, I believe Captain Rogers requires medical assistance.”

Bruce got out of bed with a grumble because while he knew that he was needed, he was also irrationally annoyed at Steve. When he got to the danger room, Steve was convulsing in his cuffs while Bucky watched from behind the glass, eyes wide and horrified.

“I-I don’t know what happened,” Bucky rushed out as soon as he saw Bruce. “One minute he was fine and then his nose started bleeding and then he started doing that." 

"He’s having a seizure,” Bruce explained calmly. “Can you get a pillow for me? And JARVIS, please de-magnify the cuffs.”

Bucky swallowed once, eyes darting towards Steve, before nodding and doing what he was told. Steve slid towards the ground, still shaking once the cuffs fell off and Bruce went in the room to lay him on his side.  

Bucky was back sooner than expected and Bruce put the pillow beneath Steve’s head, despite his limbs and body thrashing. Blood was still dripping from his nose and leaving spots on his hospital gown and the floor, but there wasn’t much that Bruce could do about that until the seizure stopped. 

“How long has this been going on?”

“About 2 minutes and 45 seconds, sir.”

Bruce rubbed his face and realized he forgot to put on his glasses. “Right. Tell me if it exceeds five minutes.”

“Will do, sir." 

"And we’re just supposed to wait?” Bucky frowned. 

“I’m sorry. If the seizure doesn’t stop then I’ll have to give him medication for it, but other than that there’s not much we can do." 

"Yeah well,” Bucky muttered, looking down at his friend. “Seems like there’s never anything we can do.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky goes in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for homophobia/homophobic slurs.

Steve thankfully stopped seizing before Bruce had to take some sort of drastic action. After they got him situated (and after Bruce watched, heartbroken, as Bucky gently wiped the blood off of Steve’s face) it even seemed like he fell asleep, for once, instead of catatonic and unblinking.

Bucky found a blanket from somewhere and put it over his friend and then plopped down right next to him, seeming like he had no intention of leaving.

“I don’t think that’s safe–”

“I don’t care,” Bucky shot back quickly without even looking at Bruce. "I can handle him, even if he starts acting crazy.“

Bruce shrugged and said, "alright,” too tired to start an argument. 

“JARVIS will tell us if anything goes wrong.”

Bucky nodded, still looking at Steve.

“Alright then.” Bruce hesitated, “Goodnight.”

“‘Night.”

Bucky stayed by Steve’s side until he dozed off next to him. When he woke up, Steve was staring at him, eyes clearer than they had been in awhile. 

“Hey,” Steve murmured.

Bucky smiled, because didn’t this seem familiar. “Hey yourself. How are you feeling?”

“Like shit, generally. What happened last night?”

Bucky propped himself up on an elbow. “You had a seizure. But Banner didn’t seem too worried.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Bruce never seems worried.”

“True.”

Steve seemed to struggle with what he was going to say before settling on, “I’m sorry for putting you through all of this. Most of the time it feels like I’m dreaming and then sometimes I can feel this thing in my head like pinpricks and I–I just wish you all didn’t have to put up with me.”

Bucky scowled. “Steve Rogers I have never 'put up with you’ in my entire life, don’t you talk like that.”

Steve averted his eyes. “I know. You’ve treated me real well, Buck. I think you being around has helped a lot.”

“Good. Someone’s got to give it to you straight every now and then.”

Steve gave a watery smile. “Yeah, it’s almost like old times. You taking care of me and all.”

“Damn straight,” Bucky said and nodded back. “'Course you never came down with anything like this.”

“I wouldn’t know it if I had. Fevers can play some awful tricks on you.”

Bucky smiled wistfully. “I almost missed this, you know. Not you being ill or anything, but taking care of you and feeling useful.”

It was Steve’s turn to frown, “Buck you’ve never been useless. Not like I was. I never understood why you hung around. Not when you could have had everything.”

“I don’t need everything, you punk,” Bucky said but left out,  _because I have you._

“Jerk,” Steve responded back automatically but then his face crumpled and he admitted, "I’m so scared Bucky, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.“

Bucky immediately pulled him into a hug and put his chin on top of Steve’s head like he used to. If Steve started crying, well they wouldn’t talk about it.

"We’ll figure it out, okay? We always do,” he murmured, rubbing Steve’s unsettlingly bony back.

Bucky held him until the tears stopped and Steve stopped shaking. When Steve finally detached himself, his face was inches away and despite the fact that his skin was all blotchy, Bucky couldn’t help but think of how beautiful he looked.

“Steve–”

Steve kissed him. It was unsure at first but as soon as Bucky got over his shock and melted into it, Steve put his hands on Bucky’s hips and deepened it. It was the most amazing kiss Bucky had ever had even though it wasn’t very experienced. 

“Steve,” he sighed when Steve backed off and kissed his jaw, missing how Steve’s eyes went completely blank.

“I never thought you–I’ve wanted this for so goddamn long.”

“How come you never told me, Buck,” Steve panted in his ear. “How come you never told me about your whores?”

Bucky froze and felt a coldness wash over him.

“Steve?”

“You fucked them like you wanted to fuck me, didn’t you? You put your dick in their assholes and pretended it was me.”

Bucky pushed him away, realizing with dawning horror what was happening. 

“Oh,  _Steve_ ,” Steve groaned lasciviously in a grotesque imitation of Bucky’s passion.

“Stop it!”

“You used to be so guilty. You wanted me in every way imaginable. You wanted to fuck my mouth when you looked at me. I’ll let you do that now, James, if you like.”

“You aren’t Steve. Steve would never say that.”

Steve pursed his lips. “No, I guess he wouldn’t. Because he never wanted you back.”

The lights dimmed and Bucky sincerely hoped that backup was on the way.

“You were never good enough for him. He was radiant and you kept him around like a dog because you couldn’t get over your perverse attraction to him.”

“That’s not true.”

“I wonder what he would do if he knew his best friend was a fag?”

Bucky felt like he had been punched in the gut and was filled with such rage, he charged at Steve, only to be thrown back against the wall by an unseen force. And then Steve was on him in a second, taking a giant bite out of Bucky’s shoulder. Bucky pushed him back with his metal arm and fought the other off to the best of his ability. 

It was so much worse than the first time they had fought. Whereas he could somewhat predict and prepare before, Steve was all chaotic energy, hands and teeth in Bucky’s face like he would attempt to rip Bucky’s throat out if he had the chance. 

Thor came in, thankfully, and pinned Steve to the wall again with mjolnir. Steve was left snarling with blood in his teeth, his piercing eyes watching Bucky.

Bucky didn’t answer any questions when Bruce sat down to patch up his shoulder, which was good because Bruce didn’t ask any.


End file.
